The present invention relates generally to a system for tracking items that have been loaded into a vending machine.
The vending industry has traditionally lacked tight controls on product inventory movement both in and out of the vending machine. A route person often loads vending machine dispensing locations with whatever items match the price corresponding to a location. Consequently, the route person sometimes mixes varieties or types of snack category items. For example, packets of pretzels, potato chips and cheese snacks may all cost the same amount of money and may be loaded into one dispensing location, which may be a helix-type dispenser in a glass-front vending machine. Vending machine operators prefer that each dispensing location in a glass-front vending machine contain only one type of product so that the overall display of products presents an easily understandable and neat appearance to consumers.
In glass front vending machines that include helix or spiral-type dispensers, occasionally a product fails to exit the spiral when vending, thus cheating the consumer. This sometimes also occurs in vending machines having other types of product delivery mechanisms. The route person or owner often does not become aware of the problem until the next scheduled visit to the vending machine. Consumers cheated in such a manner sometimes physically jostle the machine in an attempt to dislodge the product, which sometimes damages the vending machine.
Vending machine owners also usually have no knowledge of the exact inventory loaded into a vending machine. The total inventory loaded into the machine could be recorded on hand-held computers by a route person via the infrared scanning of SKUs, but this rarely, if ever, occurs. An SKU is an item number or identifier associated with a particular product and manufacturer.
Other industries have used Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) technologies to increase the efficiency of business processes, to reduce manual labor and to improve the integrity of gathered data. These technologies have included bar code, machine vision devices, other optical systems and mechanical and inductive flags. Manufacturers, particularly in supply chain and logistics areas, have also used Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. While RFID tag systems have held the promise of improving upon the benefits of bar code systems, the RFID systems have not yet reached a level of affordability to achieve widespread adoption.
Conventional RFID tags work on an inductive principle. In an inductive RFID system, a reader generates a magnetic field at a predetermined frequency. When a tag enters the field, a small electric current forms in the tag's “resonant tank circuit”, which consists of a coil and a capacitor. The resonant tank circuit provides power to an RFID chip in the tag which then modulates the magnetic field and transmits preprogrammed data back to the reader. The reader receives the signal transmission, demodulates and decodes it, and sends the data on to a host computer for further processing.
RFID systems and tags come in many different configurations. RFID tags are typically more expensive than bar code labels, and prices may reach up to $200 for a battery-powered read/write tag. But such read/write tags have unique features and attributes that can lower the overall system cost. Inexpensive RFID tags, sometimes called “button” tags have been developed that cost on the order of $1.00 per unit. However, the button tags are passive, meaning that they do not include a power source, and are thus more limited functionally. However, all RFID systems can potentially improve operating efficiencies, eliminate human error, and speed system throughput through automatic passive data capture. In addition, RFID systems provide the added benefit of being less costly to maintain than a bar code automated identification system.
There is a need for an inexpensive and robust system for tracking the number of products in any given dispensing location of a vending machine, and for communicating such information to a vending machine operator so that inventory replenishment and/or service visits can be schedule. It would be advantageous to have a system that standardizes the electronic encoding of packages so that inventory information, and failed dispensing of product reports could be automatically transmitted to vending machine operators.